Ryslig's Expanded Monster Guide
Nov. 6th, 2022 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingforplayer2The Expanded Guide is edited by Chiaki Nanami.
The Expanded Guide begins with a condensed & re-edited version of Spengler's Guide, written several years prior. This contains broad knowledge of the 23 monster types at the time, and largely features the information covered in Ryslig's bestiary.
The new content in the Guide consists entirely of individual monster testomonials.
Submissions to the Guide can be made by anyone at any time, in a drop-off box at the Insert Coin arcade. The form below can be used as a template for any monsters looking for inspiration or structure for their entries. Nanami copies out the entries longhand, and stores the information in several locations, so that the information is never lost.
A copy of the current manuscript may be requested for casual perusal at any time.
As of now, the Expanded Guide has not yet been officially published on the peninsula.
MONSTER ENTRY SUBMISSION TEMPLATE
The Expanded Guide begins with a condensed & re-edited version of Spengler's Guide, written several years prior. This contains broad knowledge of the 23 monster types at the time, and largely features the information covered in Ryslig's bestiary.
The new content in the Guide consists entirely of individual monster testomonials.
Submissions to the Guide can be made by anyone at any time, in a drop-off box at the Insert Coin arcade. The form below can be used as a template for any monsters looking for inspiration or structure for their entries. Nanami copies out the entries longhand, and stores the information in several locations, so that the information is never lost.
A copy of the current manuscript may be requested for casual perusal at any time.
As of now, the Expanded Guide has not yet been officially published on the peninsula.
NYMPH
Date: 2022-11-06 06:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-11-12 05:50 am (UTC)The magic! I liked growing all kinds of fruit!
What do you dislike about being this monster?
Getting petted didn’t feel… right. Wasn’t as good. Didn’t feel it as much. And needed to eat more to keep using magic, feels bad even though I was sharing the fruit.
What is something unique to you about being this monster?
Soft fur! And soft paws! Fuzzy leaves that acted kind of like my old ears. Lots of different plants put together to be me-shaped, bandicoot-shaped.
What types of creatures or beings influenced your monster form?
I don’t remember all the plants, but I know I was all plants. Even the fur. Wumpa tree branches were on my back.
What is it like to feed as this monster?
I had roots. They… took in meat. How plants do it.
What are some notable physical features you have as this monster, and what do you like or dislike about them?
All my claws had sleep… venom? Vines on my back that could pull and hold things.
Also weird egg face, with a mask shaped like my bandicoot face I could put on and take off. It was weird. I don’t like getting mouths to re-learn.
What are some notable psychological changes you have as this monster, and what do you like or dislike about them?
Got really excited about growing and sharing food. Wasted food made me upset. And clothes felt wrong.
Would you become this monster again?
No.
Would you become this monster for good?
No.
Monster #2: Nymph
Date: 2023-03-13 08:32 am (UTC)To take a specific example: I have no doubt that there are those for whom nymph will be the best possible monster form; there are those who will have a good time with it. I have witnessed this personally. But for myself, as someone given this form by the Fog herself, on balance I did not enjoy my time as one.
To begin with, there is the matter of transformation. This one was partly my fault. As I did not expect to transform out of my initial merperson form, I did not think to prepare myself by staying out of aquatic spaces, which are only conducive to the livelihood and well-being of water-breathing creatures. As such, transforming from a merperson to a nymph nearly cost me a life. However, even if I had fixed this oversight, I suspect that the transformation process would have been particularly excruciating. To date it is the most pain I have experienced that I can remember.
I have seen something of a trend among other nymphs: green skin, with plant life growing in various locations. I have also seen a notion - by which I was misled at the time - that the nymph transformation is one of the easier ones. I find it particularly important, then, to describe my experience to the contrary; even if I was an outlier, other outliers will come, and I do not want them to feel alone like I did.
During my transformation, all of my skin was replaced by tree bark. There were a few exceptions, such as the leafy texture of my hands and the fronds of my hair. But for the most part, that is what my skin was for my entire time as a nymph. My legs remained merged together, as they did in my aquatic merperson form, but then branched off into countless individual roots. At the time, I would probably have been able to tell you just how many, because these took an inordinate amount of time to learn how to move with. There is a particular rhythm to it, as with many monster mobility challenges, which I learned over time, but it was always slow. I would compare my normal mobility speed to more of a slow crawl than a leisurely walk.
My internal organs also changed during this process. I have transformed into a nymph multiple times, and each time I had to deal with my organs changing. I suspect this is because most creatures are made of meat, and this would not have worked for my nymphian plant-based anatomy.
I experienced other changes at later times, during my time as a nymph. To go over them: after a time, I found myself able to connect with other plants. The nature of this was limited, but useful, and probably one of the best parts of the experience for me. My first connection was with a tree that had already become special to me, where my friends and I had held a festival some weeks prior. After that, I found myself able to move easily through wooded areas, regardless of their complexity with regards to orientation or complex footing. I felt an instinctual connection with the plants around me, and was able to move easily through them without disturbing them. Sometimes I was able to find a path, or even feel their pain. It was not like talking exactly, but it was a sort of communication, empathy, and kinship.
My final physical changes were an extra set of offensive and defensive powers. For the offense, I grew two prehensile vines out of my back, made of poison ivy. These I could wrap around me, or use them to remotely touch things or pick thing sup. For the defense, I grew spiky thorns out of some parts of my body. And finally, I became able to control plants, to a limited degree. For both this and my vines, it felt less like having an extra limb (which I have experience with now in other forms), and more like empathizing with the other plants, and asking them for help. It's hard to explain unless you've felt it.
Some of these changes will echo what others have written about being a nymph, including the previous statements in this very Guide. What I would like to emphasize is how, in the sum total, all of this felt. It is not adequate to merely say "it felt terrible," even though that statement would be true - and not even in totality, because at times I learned to adapt. A more helpful statement, in this case, would be to say the following: I felt, in many ways, exactly like a tree.
I have encountered, in stories and myth, creatures who are able to commune with plants, but are themselves some sort of in-between spirit. Perhaps my fellow nymphs feel that way, but for myself, I felt quite literally like a tree, all the way down to the ability to transform into one when I slept. I felt slow in every way - in how I moved, in how I thought. The days seemed to drag on and on. I would fall asleep and wake up and feel like years had passed, when really only a few hours had. I felt more comfortable staying in one place, soaking up the sun and doing not much of note at all, than moving my roots laboriously to wherever I should go next.
To some, this may feel relaxing. But to me, it was torturous. I felt trapped in that form, and indeed I was for several months, with the exception of some variations such as my fog form - which I found to be much worse. In that instance, I transformed into a much larger tree, with no mouth or humanoid features to speak of, and only the ability to speak as a breath on the wind. I did find it easy to lure prey as a false haven; this may be counted as a positive or a negative.
On the subject of nymph feeding in general, here are my thoughts: it is a much easier process than feeding as a merperson. I found myself easily able to find sustenance even from older or more fragmented bodies, and did not have to focus on it much as my roots did most of the work. Aided as I was by a sleeping venom in my claws, my time as a nymph was when I first truly learned how to hunt - which, again, different monsters may consider either a positive or a negative.
Maybe elsewhere I will learn the more beautiful sides of being a nymph. And I cannot truly say that my time was entirely bad; over time, I became used to the form, to its benefits and drawbacks, and learned to exist as myself. But I cannot say, since leaving it, that I have been aching to go back; I feel as if I have been freed of a burden. So when it comes to my own personal time as a nymph, I cannot recommend this monster type particularly highly, nor do I hope to return to the form anytime soon.